Visions of Sugarplums

We received the last box of confections from Rachel, The Uber-Cookie Fairy. Sigh. How can I explain the sugar-indulged fantasty of having the postman ring my bell and hand over a large, brown cardboard box with Rachel's distinctive handwriting and address label? You do not know the wonder of dragging your sorry butt home from work on a sleeting night and walking into a cold house just as the front doorbell rings and you and your daughter fight your way through the Christmas cartons and rubble to open the door, and then you snatch it out of your daughter's hands and you both run into the kitchen and fight over who is going to use the scissors to open the box.

Honestly, I have to use that kitchen for more than heating up pizza slices, but I digress.

Most of you are probably shaking your head over my fixation with these deliveries. I know you are Eating Sensibly and In Moderation and only have (ugh) Snackwells and baby carrots in your cupboards. Well good for you, but we - we have this:

And this:

Can you believe the artistry of this woman? These are not your standard chocolate chip or brownies all crumbly in a cardboard box that your mother sent you in college. (Not my mother, of course, she never sent me anything....and for that matter, I've never baked anything to send to my kids either.) Rachel, you are a true artist and your work needs to be shared with paying customers.

Oh, and see in the top photo, in the upper left, the bowl filled with little waxed paper wrapped thingies, well those thingies are these thingies:

Homemade Mounds Bars! I think there are some left, hmm, let my check my right cheek where I have about a dozen crammed in, yes, there's one I can share.....And these beautiful cookies, they are not just eye candy! They taste as good as they look. The chocolate star ones are to die for and the snowflake cookies are to die for. But really, the most magnificent part of the gift, is the fact of the gift itself, a gift that humbles the recipient and makes one wonder what they could ever do to pay such kindess and generosity.

And Rachel, who can ask me to do anything in return for this magnaminous gesture, well,  her reply is a simple: "Pass it on."

Thank you, Rachel, from the bottom of my heart.